Conventional image forming apparatus are known to include a so-called direct print function. In direct printing, image data stored on an internal memory of a digital camera or on various storage media (external storage apparatus) detachably attached to the digital camera is directly read without an intermediary like a personal computer and printed.
In these type of image forming apparatus, orientation of an image (directions of broad and narrow sides of the image) represented by the image data is identified based on additional information contained in the read image data. Then, the image is rotated such that the orientation of the image is consistent with orientation of printing paper when printed.